Cider
by Adverage
Summary: For Emma the only thing more unbelievable than magic is true love and she's tangled between the two. When the source and limits of her magic begins to be a problem she's forced to ask Regina for advice but she hadn't intended to get help with both.
1. Chapter 1

The woods filled with the clacking strikes of their wooden swords as David struck only to be parried away by his daughter. With each counter his expression of pride increased, so much so that Emma had delayed telling him how ridiculous she felt. Activities like this were embarrassing on some basic level of social normalcy but such a thing had vanished with her arrival to Storybrooke and the slight pull of an awkward contextual perspective couldn't compete with the way David grinned and praised her on her footwork.

She often reminded herself that her parents lost these moments with her as much as she had lost her moments with them and while growing up together in her world meant her dad had never intimidated her first boyfriend, for David it meant this.

"Don't step too far when you strike, the strongest attacks comes from the strongest stance."

Emma was panting; four exchanges in and they were both sweating in tank tops, equally reluctant to end the practice for reasons neither bothered to articulate.

"Right."

Her exhaustion betrayed her as the word came out breathy.

"We can take a break?"

They were practicing a bit out of town in a space David liked for one of the fallen trees which he claimed allowed for practice in fighting an enemy on higher ground. It was Emma who had asked for the lesson after returning from her parents world having had to crash-course herself in sword fighting. Seated on the tree beside her father she managed to regain her breath.

"So, we gonna be trading up to steel any time soon? You do know I've killed a dragon right?"

David chuckled, "I had considered it, but Gold refuses to give me back my armor."

"He has it?"

"I hope so, there's nowhere else I'm going to find any in this world. You have your breath back?"

Emma grabbed up her wooden sword, comparably light to the one she was accustomed to and began stretching out her shoulders. David hopped up onto the massive fallen log and tapped the space beside him.

"You want me up there?"

"Come on."

Emma hopped up a bit gracelessly, footing unsteady in her boots.

"Ready?"

"As I'm gonna be."

David struck high first, not difficult to block and by its nature, and his, purposefully chivalrous. The next was a slash across her stomach, better dodged than parried. Emma kept up but not so much that she deluded herself at a chance of victory, David was teaching her, not fighting her, and that was obvious in his pace. It didn't mean she wasn't going to try however. She had learned something of his rhythm and knew that following a counter to throw her off balance he liked to push forward. As he blocked her jab and made to charge she ducked and rammed her shoulder into his chest, for a moment it seemed she would better him but in the flurry of attack his instincts seized control and she found her own momentum being used to flip her. The intention had not been to throw her off the log but she was in mid-air, headed for the forest floor. Comprehension of just how much she might be hurt zapped through her unconscious and the panic woke a sudden lurch. A burst of magic erupted beneath her, keeping her from harm and throwing David from his place on the log.

She lay in the twigs and dirt for a second stunned before remembering to shout, "David! David, are you okay?"

From the other side of the tree was a low groan of confirmation.

Leaves stuck to her hair as she stood up, "I am so sorry."

He was sprawled out as if whatever had hit him had overwhelmed even his most articulate muscle control, groaning he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Has that been happening a lot?"

"Define 'a lot'?"

Emma hoisted him to his feet.

"I know you're not looking to indulge magic but maybe learning about it is the safer option than ignoring it."

She looked like he'd just told her to do her homework.

"I know, but that means dealing with Gold, not exactly an attractive reason to stop procrastinating."

David rotated his shoulder, probably trying to make sure nothing was broken; there was a fine array of small pebbles stuck to his back.

"As long as you keep your eye on him he might be able to give you a hint on all this magic stuff, at least he will if it serves his purposes."

"I'm a little tired of serving his purposes."

"We all are, but it could mean the difference between figuring it out and renovating the loft the next time you drop a plate."

David grabbed the carved pommel of her play sword, gathering it against its partner in his hand and grabbing her jacket off a nearby branch with the other.

"Come on, let's go get a drink at Granny's."

"There's one perk of the whole grown daughter, stuck in time parents thing."

* * *

"I'm afraid I can't help you there, dearie."

Emma had taken David's suggestion and already felt silly; a pilgrimage to control her own magical potential was not her idea of a sane adult activity. Then again neither was climbing beanstalks or fighting pirates yet here she was.

"Oh come on you want something? Family heirloom? Social security number? Secret recipe?"

Gold wore his expression of bemused annoyance most frequently applied when people thought they were being clever, eyes closed and mouth cocked as if about to speak.

"Funny, but no as nice as it would be to know how Ms. Blanchard makes those chocolate chip cookies there's nothing I can do for you and even if I could I am currently absorbed in my own affairs."

Emma looked concerned.

"Affairs? Affairs I should be aware of in a sheriff capacity?"

"Nothing so trying, affairs of a personal nature. As I explained I didn't know you could use magic."

"But aren't you supposed to be the 'magic' guy?"

"As flattering and correct as that would normally be the nature of your…abilities is the product of true love which as you might be aware I am a bit unfamiliar with, my knowledge comes from a place of dark magic. To be honest I'm not even entirely sure we should be standing this near to one another."

That was unfortunate, not that she had been looking forward to magic lessons or whatever with Gold but the thought that this new aspect of herself might go unexplained and uncontrolled was daunting.

"So what am I supposed to do? Just hope I don't level Main Street the next time I get cut off?"

Gold mocked a shrug looking more devious than he wanted to pretend.

"There are other people in town who have experience with magic."

It took her a second.

"Wait? Do you mean Regina?"

"Despite your rather outspoken distaste for her, Regina's knowledge of magic comes from well, some might say the heart."

The thought of discussing an aspect of magic within herself with Regina was an even more unsavory idea than doing so with Mr. Gold, which had already taken nearly a day of convincing.

"Isn't there just a way to…I don't know, seal it?"

Mr. Gold was surprised; it was rare that someone would come to him seeking to stifle power.

"There are measures, sealing spells, but with the nature of your particular condition I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why not?"

Mr. Gold considered his wording and took a step around his counter.

"True Love is the most powerful magic there is, any attempt to contain it would be temporary at best."

"So give me temporary."

Gold shook his head like he was trying to explain trigonometry to a kindergartener, "Stopping up powerful magic, even temporarily can have disastrous results. I do live in this town Ms. Swan; I'm even quite fond of Main Street."

"So you're saying you won't help me."

"How about this? I'll try and whip something up and you go talk to Regina. If she can't help I'm sure we can work something out. If you're lucky she might just tell you no."

* * *

"No."

"Maybe Gold's onto something."

"Really? How could you think that was a good idea?"

They had gone for coffee following Mary-Margaret's day at work and run into Archie on his evening walk. The pair of them had surprisingly different point of views on Emma's predicament. While Archie thought bringing Regina into a circle of trust might benefit the both of them Mary-Margaret was regarding it more as leaving her daughter with an unsavory babysitter.

"What are we arguing about?"

Ruby refilled Emma's mug with black coffee and set a fresh bowl of creamers on the edge of the table.

"We're not arguing."

"Gold suggested I ask Regina to help me out with my magic problem."

"Well you're not going to are you?"

"Of course she's not, I'm sure we can figure something out."

Mary-Margaret's optimism was appreciated but Emma knew it wouldn't yield anything. Who else were they supposed to ask for magical assistance? It wasn't like Henry's book had instructions in the back.

"I don't have much of a choice? I mean, Gold's right, what if I hurt someone? So this time I knocked the wind out of David-"

"You knocked the wind out of David?"

She forgot the sword-fighting lessons weren't common knowledge.

"Wow, go Emma, he's not exactly a twig."

Ruby was smirking, choosing to neglect the few other occupied tables for the sake of conversation.

"Even besides that," Archie adjusted his glasses, "Regina's been working harder than ever to prove herself, maybe we should give her something more than just the odd opportunity."

"Have you talked to Henry about this?"

"No, he's with David."

"You might want to bring that up."

That was the plan but the idea wasn't exactly exciting, none of this excited her, instead it made her vaguely nauseous.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"He may be, I'm sure seeing you and Regina constantly at odds with one another can't be the easiest thing for him."

Archie said this, of course, knowing exactly the effect that their rivalry tended to have on him as they'd spoken about it before. As far as he could tell, barring the two of them actually killing one another, a little time spent not trying to throttle one another could only do everyone a little bit of good.

"Okay, how about this? I talk to Henry about it and if it's something he wants I give it a try. Or at least, ask and pray she says no. That is the last we are talking on the subject."

"But-"

"The Savior decrees it."

Mary-Margaret both hands around her mug, silenced her dissent by taking a sip of her coffee.

The next morning, she knocked on Regina's door.

For several minutes there was no answer and Emma hardly needed more than that to get back into her car and forget the whole thing but with her back turned she heard the lock click and heard the door open.

"Sheriff Swan? Is everything okay?"

Normally Emma appearing unannounced hinted at something being wrong with Henry and turning she saw the look of legitimate concern.

"Uh, yeah, fine, just…visiting."

She winced internally, Regina thought someone was playing a joke on her and it only stood to make her angry.

"Excuse me?"

There were a few ways she could present this but none of them had earned the approval of her pride. Who would it hurt for her to make up some lame excuse to leave and tell everybody Regina had said no? There was little chance that anyone would care to corroborate, the only one who might would be Mr. Gold, which was one part of the problem. The other part was the conversation she'd had the night prior with Henry.

"Okay, I have a magic problem."

"What?"

"When I faced Cora I did something and then the other day I sort of hurt David, Gold said it was a true love thing and he couldn't help. He thought maybe you'd…"

She trailed off, her dignity was hurting.

Regina's expression hadn't changed; her arms were now crossed over her chest.

"Tell me, do I have a sign on my house that says 'Magic Counselor'?"

Regina cut her off before she could answer and Emma felt the anger that she so easily coaxed to amplification.

"I didn't think so, so unless this in some way affects my son I think you should probably turn around."

She wanted to, badly, but there was that second part of the problem.

"Look, I'm not exactly giddy about this either but I don't want to endanger anyone and more than that all of our fighting…I just want to give Henry a break from it. So, if you don't want to teach me spells or whatever, that's fine, but if we could just pretend to be getting along? Be seen together a few times? Just the fact that I'm asking you should prove how much I want to let him have some time when we're not being terrible to one another."

Regina's steely expression remained, her hostility nearly filling the whole doorway and for a few seconds they were in a state of stand-off familiar to them. Emma did her best to look resolved.

Finally, Regina's resolution eased. Her arms uncrossed and expression a bit less angry she stepped out of the way and held the door open looking reluctant.

"Come in."


	2. Chapter 2

For Emma trying to explain how the magic had 'felt' was impossible, she had no context for explanation and kept falling back on clichés. Regina's best attempts to coax accuracy were only getting both of them more frustrated. It was like they had the rare and exact chemistry that would allow for nothing to be accomplished.

"I told you I don't know! It was just…she just couldn't take it out, it was stuck. I don't know what it's supposed to feel like to have your heart ripped out."

Regina had the fingers of her right hand pressed up against her temple and a look of annoyance on her face, she had offered Emma a drink before sitting down to talk in the kitchen but she hadn't taken anything. It probably had to do with a fear of being poisoned but both thought it better not to bring that up by name.

"Was there a feeling of darkness or pressure and then warmth or was it warm all the way through?"

"Darkness?"

"Discomfort?"

"Well, she had her _hand_ in my _chest_. So, yeah, little uncomfortable."

"Joking about this is a waste of my time, you have to start thinking abstractly. Magic isn't like switching on a light switch its about control and change and power."

"Getting a little dark side on me."

"You came to me for me for my perspective."

Emma couldn't argue with that, not that she'd been left much of a choice; Regina sighed. She had opted to remain standing as she often did but Emma sat at the kitchen island looking like she didn't know what was expected of her.

"Okay, what about with David, what happened then?"

"I was about to get hurt and I don't know, my instincts took over."

Whatever Emma's magic was it remained almost entirely reflexive, given Emma's history of denial that didn't surprise her much but telling her all she had to do was believe didn't seem like much of an answer. It became suddenly apparent to her that Emma was smiling about something and Regina thought for a mad moment that she'd somehow started believing and that everything would resolve itself but Emma's expression pointed in a different direction.

"Okay, so stick with me on this what if we try and recreate that? Maybe you could try and hurt me."

"Excuse me?"

There was a feeling of not entirely unpleasant surprise at the request.

"I mean not like, you know, stabbing or anything but if that's the only time that it's worked and you need to see me in action to know how to fix it…"

"I cannot believe you're actually suggesting this."

"Tell me about it."

Just the idea of inviting Regina to do damage to her seemed stupid and set her pride grumbling but she didn't actually have to get her she just had to think she was and anyway she knew her own physical limitations and that they were floating somewhere above Regina's. In a magic battle she might be bested but if it came to bare knuckles she could hold her own and she wanted to get this taken care of as quickly as possible. Not to mention if her power was going to freak out and hurt someone it wouldn't suck if it were Regina.

"That's ridiculous, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Oh, come on, like you've never wanted to punch me in the face."

"That's beside the point."

"I'm just trying not to 'waste your time'."

This was insane and at the same time it was her best definition of a nemesis asking to be hit in the face.

"What would you want me to do?"

She was doing her best to remain as grudging as possible.

"I don't know, shove me or something? I'm not really sure how much it will take for it to kick in."

If she was actually going to do this then she was going to do it correctly, she flattened the front of her shirt and walked around the island.

"Okay stand up."

With the point agreed to Emma's eyes had widened. The posibility of the impending harm gave her momentary second thoughts but she pushed out the chair and stood up to face Regina.

How do two grown women stand when one is expected to hurt the other?

Regina wore her common expression of serene wrath; she had done this dozens of times before in battle and with those who had no conception of the approaching pain. The closest she could come to recognizing how it felt facing Emma was the memory of facing Snow, being about to offer her the apple, knowing that pain was coming. This was different of course but in a way just as charged, while no fates hung in the balance Emma looked her right in the eye and drew on a force of feeling between the two of them. The volume of static rose in her head and then, without thinking, she slapped Emma across the face.

In a way she had known nothing would happen but it was apparent that Emma had not, she held a hand to the side of her face, mouth slightly agape in shock. The force of it had turned her head and thrown her hair over to the front-side of her shoulder, her eyes were wide as if she had not asked for it. Regina made sure her face betrayed no expression.

"That didn't work."

Emma's eyebrows furrowed to say that Regina's confirmation that she had, indeed, just been struck across the face was unnecessary.

"Any other bright ideas."

Her hand hurt more than she had expected, maybe she'd hit a bit too hard, Emma was rubbing her cheek.

"I don't know that I want to have any."

Great, so they'd been sitting there attempting polite conversation about magic for maybe forty-five minutes and all they'd accomplished was slapping Emma. She turned back to the kitchen counter as not to have to watch Emma nursing the side of her face, which was now bright red and probably swelling. There was a small itch of remorse; she wanted to figure out a polite way to tell Emma to lie if Henry asked about it. That was the last thing he needed.

"Look, I don't think that I'm going to be able to help you. I don't even have a firm grasp on magic in this world, if we were back in my world there might be something I could do but here we're out of luck."

Emma looked like she was thinking again, a fact that had a chance of causing further detriment to her health. Without her hand up to block the side of her face Regina could see a clear outline of her own hand.

"Cora said that love was weakness."

Regina remembered those words so clearly; even as Emma said them she thought she heard them in her mother's voice. Despite all of her trying with Henry she still had a hard time convincing herself that it wasn't true.

"And I just knew…I knew she was wrong and then she was, she couldn't take my heart."

Wouldn't that have been nice, to have been able to prove her mother wrong all those years ago and stopped her from taking a heart. Emma had now what she had always wanted and she wanted to understand it. To do so would require drastic action.

"I have one more thing we could try."

Pushing off the cold marble counter she turned to face Emma again.

"I can try and take your heart."

For the first time since they'd started talking Emma's confidence slipped, she had been determined to do what it took to resolve this issue and even, to a degree, make nice with Regina but recalling the feeling of Cora's hand in her chest- like some clammy living thing, made her hesitant.

"If that's what started these outbursts than it's the most probable way to get a reaction."

It was more difficult than she thought to look Emma in the eye, normally when she took out hearts she didn't really waste time convincing her victims first. The words felt dishonest. If it worked like the slap and she actually managed to take her heart out then the experience wouldn't be pleasant. Following that she wasn't even entirely sure she could put it back, that required strong magic of a persuasion that generally disagreed with her and having to go explain to someone who truly loved Emma how her heart had ended up separate from her body didn't seem like a good time. It would be better if Emma just disagreed outright.

"Yeah, okay."

Even as she said it she looked nervous, she swallowed and nodded a few times in the way she did when she was trying to convince herself.

"Let's do it."

She righted her shoulders again as if she was preparing herself for another blow to the face. Regina took a deep breath and finally looked her in the eye, it had been a good while since she'd removed a heart but having taken so many she wasn't worried about her technique. The curse required malice, which she had in abundance but beyond that fury and understanding. It required the knowledge of exactly what it is you were doing and all of the consequences thereof, to hold a human being in your hand. All of their complexities and potentials under your power; that was why crushing them was so unpleasant. You could feel every drop of life drain into oblivion.

Regina raised her hand and made to touch Emma's chest, for the sake of consideration she tried to move slow. For a second she was just touching her, fingertips on the center of her chest at the hard junction of her sternum. She could feel her heart beating through her thin t-shirt and then her hand passed through, as it had before, and her fingers brushed the muscle itself. The heart is only inches from everything that would wish to do it harm and for her the ribcage was no obstacle. Emma had drawn in a sudden breath of shocked but did not, now, look uncomfortable. Touching Emma's heart felt strange, it was not the normal sense of consuming. Of reaching through fog to grab something porcelain, instead it felt like sticking a limb into warm, deep water. Something lurked in the sea of her, a body of water particularly hard to navigate. Her heart, though solid, seemed almost to be made of smoke, getting her fingers around it took a try and as soon as she did warmth spread through her entire body.

"Regina."

Having someone talk while you have their heart in the palm of your hand is unsettling, even more so when they're looking into your eyes. Regina looked for a moment on Emma's face, closer than it ever had been, and did not realize that she was trying to get her to notice something.

"You're glowing."

She hadn't realized between the monumental effort of focus it was taking to keep her grip and Emma's proximity but looking down now a strange golden light emitted from around her arm. It was odd; she wasn't exactly the glowing type. Feeling the pulse of Emma's heart beneath her hand Regina suddenly understood what it was and the force of that realization made her lose her grip. She tugged her arm back to her side with no heart to speak of.

Both of them were breathing heavily, Emma was even a bit hunched over.

"That felt," Emma's sentence was interrupted by her ragged breathing, "different."

Regina turned away from her, back to the island trying to catch her breath.

"What was that?"

There was no answer.

"Regina, what was that?"

"Nothing."

She had regained enough of her strength to grab Regina's arm and turn her around.

"What was it?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying, I can tell. Tell me what that was. Why were you glowing?"

Whatever the answer was Regina was keeping it to herself.

"No, this is me. This isn't one of your little plots, this is my life. If you know something, if something bad could happen you have to tell me."

Her grip on Regina's arm tightened, she could feel her nails digging in through the fabric of her blazer.

"It's nothing dangerous. Now, I need you to leave and apologize to Henry for me but this isn't something I can help you with."

"What?"

"I'm telling you to leave my house, I don't have time for this."

"First you have to explain that to me."

Regina's jaw clenched and she jerked her arm away, "How dare you? I have to explain nothing to you, now leave my house."

For a few seconds Emma stood there, loathe to give up on getting what she wanted but knowing she was no longer in any temporary good graces that might have allowed them to cohabitate a single space. She grabbed her leather jacket from the back of the chair and left.

Hearing the door close Regina braced both hands on the marble counter and took a deep breath.

* * *

The front door to Gold's shop blew open as if it was fleeing from whatever was outside and when he saw how angry Regina looked he didn't blame it.

"What are you playing at?"

"I don't know why I invested all that money in a closed sign, obviously nobody looks at it."

"Don't try and act cute."

"I assure you, that's not one of my priorities."

Gold had been attending to private matters in the form of looking over paper work but Regina had no kindness to spare his personal life, she strode up to the counter.

"Trying to pawn her off on me so I have to deal with her when you know exactly what she is."

"I suspect you're referring to our sheriff and her little magic problem? You seemed like something of a better fit seeing I'm a bit allergic to true love."

"You think this is funny?"

Gold's expression changed from one of bemused annoyance to actual concern, he sensed that something had occurred of which he had no knowledge. He hated when that happened.

"I take it something happened?"

Regina realized suddenly how badly she had trapped herself, the assumption that Gold had sent Emma knowing what would happen had been false and now she was left to talk her way out without providing an explanation, a feat that with Rumplestiltskin, was impossible.

"And to get you this riled up no doubt it was something interesting. Did she beat you at something? More magic? No, this isn't a simple besting."

She really didn't like when he puzzled things out loud as he always seemed to know right when he'd hit the jackpot, she knew it must be something in her expression but for her best efforts she couldn't do any better at disguising her feelings.

"This is something deeper, did she read your mind, find out something about you rather left unknown? Or maybe…"

His tone of voice changed, it sounded like a wolf closing in on a rabbit.

"You found out something about yourself."

She felt herself doing whatever it was that let him know he was exactly right and watched his expression brighten.

"Oh my, well, I suppose when you're dealing with the result of true love even The Evil Queen isn't immune."

"Don't play dumb, you knew and I promise you're not going to use her to best me."

Gold considered this for a moment.

"What, you think this is payback for that business with Belle? Don't flatter yourself, I have things to worry about beyond petty past rivalries. Now why don't you go have a chat with your little crush?"

One of the display cases on the side of the shop exploded, littering the ground with glass; Regina turned and left, pacing over it. The crunching noise it made beneath the point of her heel wasn't enough to sate a fury that she realized had nothing to engulf now but her self.


	3. Chapter 3

_Officially deviating from the canon. _

* * *

"Good morning Miss. Swan."

Before she'd even had the opportunity to take her jacket off in the Sheriff's office that morning the phone had rang and she'd been forced to trek out to Mr. Gold's shop. He had refused to elaborate on what he described as 'property damage' but now that she was here she could see he was completely justified in calling her. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside one of the display cases. The main aisle of the store was completely covered in broken glass and the case's contents were littered amid the wreckage.

"Wanna try to explain to me why I've gotten more calls from you than almost anyone else in town since I've gotten here?"

"What can I say? I lead a life of interest."

"That's a nice way of saying lots of people want to do bad things to you."

"Being powerful means having enemies."

Emma pushed some of the glass around with the toe of her boot; he hadn't even made an attempt at sweeping it up which she knew was on purpose. He had wanted her to see the wreckage at full effect.

"Okay, so mind telling me which _enemy _decided you needed to do some redecorating?"

"It was Ms. Mills that paid me a visit last night."

The crunching noises caused by Emma's fidgeting stopped completely.

"You're sure?"

"I was in the shop when it happened, it was her. She was in something of a state, shouted at me and then took issue with my display case. I wanted to make sure it was you who dealt with it as I wouldn't want her doing any more damage."

"Since when are you concerned?"

Gold's lip quirked.

"Do I really seem so disinterested?"

Emma took the question as rhetorical partially because she had no way of knowing how to answer it, sometimes Gold seemed eerily invested while others it was as if none of them meant a thing to him. Even now his concern perturbed him.

"So what do you want me to do?"

His brow furrowed as if the answer should have been obvious.

"I want you to arrest her."

"Really?"

Since the curse had been broken they'd tended to use the jail cells in the Sheriff's office more for protection from angry mobs than a place for actually detaining criminals. Not to mention she didn't know if they even had a functioning court system for prosecution, she was really more of a 'keep the peace' kind of sheriff.

"Yes, I want her brought in on charges of trespassing and destruction of property and I should add that it isn't the first time."

Honestly she couldn't see what good might come of it but as the wronged party and a man in his right she couldn't deny him, in any other town not inhabited by fairytale characters she would probably have been arrested a long time ago.

"If you say so."

Emma had left her car parked by the Sheriff's office, the walk to Gold's was a short one and she had been worried lately that all of the three block car rides were taking a toll on her battery. It was no wonder so few other people in town actually drove a car. Of course the upside of doing so meant not running into your son on your way to arrest his adoptive mother.

"Hey Emma."

"Hey kid, what are you doing walking around by yourself?"

"I was looking for you, David said you went to investigate a break in at Gold's and I thought you might need my help. Do we have any clues?"

There was no way she was going to tell him, the entire point of the past couple of days had been to foster a sense of security between the three of them, even in just a fragile one. Telling him she was about to go slap cuffs on Regina meant starting over at zero.

"Uh, doesn't look like it."

He looked disappointed; he had been anticipating an adventure.

"But Gold might have given me a lead, how about this? I run it down and when I get back I'll debrief you and we can bring coffee back to Mary-Margaret and David?"

Henry wasn't buying it, "Why don't I just come with you?"

"It, uh, might be dangerous."

"You mean it has to do with Regina."

Crap, Emma sighed, "Listen, I don't know why your mom went after Gold but I'm gonna try and help her out."

Henry was looking at his feet, his hands wrapped around the straps of his backpack, which he was carrying around despite it being a Saturday.

"Emma, it's okay."

"No, it's not. We're doing good, yesterday with the magic advice thing. I think we're on to something, I'm sure she has an explanation-"

"And what if she doesn't?"

"I'm sure she does."

It was weird to be the one trying to testify on Regina's behalf but seeing Henry so dejected made her want to force Regina to be a better person if it killed the both of them. By this point they were nearly at Granny's, out front Ruby was writing out the day's specials.

"Hey Emma, hey Henry."

"Morning Ruby, hey, I know it's early for favors but could you keep an eye on Henry for a half-an-hour while I go do sheriff things?"

"She means arrest my mom."

Ruby looked immediately concerned, "What did Regina do?"

"Nothing, she did nothing because it's part of an on going investigation."

As she stressed the end of the sentence she looked to Henry as a reminder that going around implying that Regina had done something wrong could get people panicked. Apparently this didn't reassure Ruby who still looked worried, but nodded.

"Come on Henry, we'll get you some French toast."

She opened the door to let Henry go inside, for a second she held it, looking at Emma, "Are you sure you'll be okay going alone?"

"I'll be fine."

Ruby nodded, somewhat assuaged by her confidence but still her eyes lingered in concern before following Henry into the Diner.

* * *

Emma sighed and knocked again, in a sense she was relieved. After the confrontation yesterday the last thing she wanted to do was try and arrest Regina but her dodging confrontation with Gold was only going to make everything worse for her. Intent on following through with that 'helping Regina be a better person' thing she wasn't being discouraged so easily. Peeking through the set of windows on the right side of the door she saw into the foyer and a glimpse of some of the rooms was offered up. Something was wrong, the furniture that Emma could see looked as if it had been destroyed or broken, even without trying she could see debris by the floor of the stairs. Panic crept into her chest; Regina being hurt was suddenly a possibility. Emma threw her shoulder up against the door, it was solid but not the hardest she'd knocked down. By the second charge she thought she felt it splintering but as she pulled back for a third go the lock clicked and Regina opened it, her momentum already charged Emma blew passed Regina and falling shoulder first onto the hardwood floor.

She groaned and rolled over onto her back, looking up at Regina was like staring into a tempest of rage.

"What the _hell _do you think you're doing?"

"You didn't answer," Emma wondered later if she could have picked a worse answer.

"Which would mean, to any sane person, that I wasn't home or maybe, that I didn't want to come to the door and deal with _whatever. Idiot. Was. Knocking. _It would not be taken as an invitation to knock the door in like a thug."

Her volume increased with each word, Emma had seen Regina angry before but it had always been in some way reserved. Her rage was often clever and expressed subtly; Emma's intuition said there were other factors in play. Bringing them up now however would probably be a mistake. Emma scrambled to her feet; Regina standing over her was making her uncomfortable.

"Your furniture."

Being at a loss for words was not assisting with justification, Emma looked behind her. From inside the house she could see the damage done to one of the adjacent rooms. It looked like a tornado had come through.

"Is none of your business, now, would you mind explaining why you nearly cost me a new front door?"

She really didn't want to do this.

"Gold sent me to arrest you, he said you came by his store last night."

"He's lying."

"He's pretty sure he's not and I saw the damage. Look, I don't want to arrest you. Explain it to me and I'll find a reason not to."

Regina looked at her with the rare look of surprise applied when Emma treated her with favor. It was an uncommon look and Emma thought not just with her, she wasn't used to having somebody on her side.

"Why?"

"We both know Gold's trying to railroad you, tell me why."

Regina's rage had subsided in the face of amity and she crossed her arms over her chest, "I have no idea."

"I can tell when you lie."

Regina scoffed, "Right because you have a super power? Honestly, telling Henry garbage like that."

Emma rolled her eyes, "You always look away from me when you start lying."

That gave her pause but Regina took the opportunity to look her right in the eyes, "I don't know."

"Now I know you're lying because of the superpower. Just tell me what happened."

"Or what, you'll arrest me?"

It was a dare that hung between them for a few tense seconds.

"If I have to."

Calling her bluff Emma reached to the side of her belt and produced her handcuffs. Regina thought better of pressing it.

"Okay, look, tell Gold I'll pay for the damage."

Her hand holding the handcuffs returned to her side, "Good, okay."

"Now, if that's the only business you had with me I'm going to ask you to leave."

That was fair enough and if Gold was unhappy with her police work she could call him out on harassment. Regina hadn't closed the door yet; she hadn't intended to let Emma stay long enough to have to but in the doorway Emma wanted to say one more thing before forfeiting her audience.

"Regina, about yesterday-"

"No, I am willing to be civil with you when your intentions are professional but that discussion is closed."

"Fair enough."

For now, she wasn't going to push it and left with more grace than she had arrived. Regina stood in the foyer for a moment in thought.

"Should I anticipate her being a problem?"

Behind her Cora emerged from the parlor.

Regina cleared her throat, "Sheriff Swan? Hardly, she can't see something until it hits her in the face, or she hits it at it were."

"Hm."

"What?"

"Nothing. If you say she's not a problem, than of course I believe you."

* * *

Belle, Ruby and Henry were at the counter huddled around something, Emma could hear bits of the conversation as she entered the store.

"No, gold kryptonite takes away his powers, blue only hurts Bizarro, it heals Superman from Red kryptonite."

Ruby looked dizzy but Belle seemed to be keeping up with his explanations.

"Did he start explaining to you how the Flash can run through time yet?"

The trio looked up from what Emma had correctly guessed was a comic book; Ruby wasted no time.

"How'd it go?"

"Good, better than expected, she offered to pay for the damages."

Everyone was relieved.

"I'll get you those coffees."

"It's okay Ruby it can wait a second, Belle could I talk to you?"

Belle couldn't remember how many conversations she'd had one on one with Emma that weren't about some sort of crime taking place but could say with confidence that it was less than five.

"Uh, yeah, what's up?"

Ruby took the cue to ask Henry about Wonder Woman allowing Belle and Emma a bit of privacy a few stools away.

"You're smart right?"

"I'd prefer the term well-read, but it sort of depends on what you're talking about."

Belle still looked kind of bewildered by being needed for conversation.

"Magic?" No matter how used to it she'd gotten she still felt kind of ridiculous saying it, "Or curses, whatever you want to call it."

She pressed her lips together and nodded as if she knew exactly what kind of questions she was about to be asked, "I've read a bit on the subject, cursed is kind of my type."

Her eyes could not help but flicker past Emma to where a wide-eyed Ruby was trying to understand the 'true essence' of Wonder Woman's golden lasso. Emma followed her line of sight.

"Whoa, okay, well coming back to that later. Do you know anything that might make someone, I don't know, glow?"

Finding the words to explain exactly what had happened or what magic looked like was still difficult for her.

"Glow?"

"Yeah, like…"

Emma tried to sum up what it had looked like in a hand gesture that involved holding her hands a few inches off her chest to mime some sort of aura, "Full body glowing."

"Depends, what was going on?"

If she lied there was a good chance she would get an answer that wouldn't help at all but trying to explain why Regina had had a hand in her chest didn't sound fun.

Screw it.

"How about if someone's trying to remove a heart?"

Belle's face immediately shadowed with worries, "Emma is everything okay?"

She tried to look unconcerned; "Yeah, yeah I have it all under control, just, do you have any ideas?"

Thinking, Belle exhaled, "Well, removing hearts requires a powerful dark curse and there's only one thing I know that can break any curse."

"What?"

"Come on, you of all people."

Emma's eyes widened and she started speaking in a loud whisper, "Are you saying true love? Like Regina and true love?"

The ridiculousness of the idea disarmed her, Belle looked just as surprised.

"You're the one saying Regina," She paused, "Wait, did Regina try and take your heart?"

Trying to explain herself was no longer really a concern, she was too preoccupied, "It's- No, it's fine, I asked her to," Belle's concern deepened, "Long story, but Cora couldn't remove my heart either."

"I-I don't know, I'm sure there are other ways to break curses and you're the product of true love and everything but the glowing is….more complicated."

Emma looked like a woman witnessing something equally terrifying and miraculous.

"But that's, I mean, there has to be another explanation," She was grasping at straws, "It must be Henry."

"What?"

"We both love Henry, it's a connection. Tell me that could be it?"

"Theoretically, I mean I've only ever read about stuff like this. But then, I mean, it could be a shared affection for anything, do you like apples?"

"Not particularly."

"Strike that off the list then."

"It's got to be Henry."

"What's got to be me?"

Henry had somehow summed up everything about Wonder Woman, or at least that's what Emma could figure from the dazed look on Ruby's face.

"Nothing kid, you got the coffee? Let's get these home to Mary-Margaret and David. Thanks Belle."

Emma, apparently, was not going to stick around to listen to any more reason, she had already made up her mind on the true way of things as was her habit. She grabbed the tray of coffee and her son and headed out, still looking like she was trying to stave off any unpleasant realizations.

Ruby moved down the counter.

"What was that about?"

"Regina tried to take Emma's heart and she started glowing."

"What?"

"I don't know."

"She started glowing?"

Belle raised her eyebrows, "Apparently."

"What does that even mean?"

Belle finally looked away from the closed door to Ruby, "I'm not really sure, it could mean nothing. Then again, maybe magic knows things before we do."


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on, come on, come on."

The phone rang a fifth time before clicking over to the automated drone of the voicemail.

"Crap."

Emma set her phone down a bit harder than she should have on the counter and immediately picked it up again to check for damage. Despite her desperation to get in contact with Regina (as evidenced by the dozen phone calls) she hadn't left any voicemails. For some reason that crossed a weird line into embarrassing. After all, what would she say, 'Hey, the glowing was because of our son I think?' Actually, yes, that was exactly what she needed to say and she needed to know if that was plausible. If Regina agreed or on a much more frightening tangent if she contradicted that possibility leaving the implications open to all sort of unbelievable things.

"Maybe you should take a break, for your phones sake?"

Mary-Margaret was seated at the island in the kitchen grading papers, as to what elementary school students were actually graded on Emma didn't know. Her work had been paused briefly to make herself some cocoa.

"Or you know, for your sake."

Even Emma would concede that she was acting a little manic. The lack of confirmation for her Henry theory had possibilities buzzing around her head in such a way that made focus impossible. She literally _needed _to know.

Relenting she groaned and sank her head down into her arms on the counter, the surface felt cold on her forehead and she could feel her breath fogging up the space left beneath her chin. She was the kind of woman who had a hard time dealing with problems that did not have forthcoming solutions. Quests were no problem, tell her the next step and she was climbing beanstalks and fighting dragons but unclear objectives baffled her. The feeling of needing to continue forward and having no idea how to do so was a particular annoyance. This was why she was so good at knocking down doors, if she couldn't ram her shoulder into a problem until it gave way she had no inkling of comprehension for it.

"She's being irresponsible, I mean what if Henry was hurt or something?"

"You mean if she wasn't already directly involved?"

Emma jerked her head up out of her arms, Mary-Margaret continued on with her papers as if she hadn't just used a cheap shot.

"She doesn't hurt Henry."

"Hurting someone and someone being hurt because of you are two different things."

This was quickly taking on the tone of two opposing sides.

"And if Regina didn't care about him being hurt she would have killed me the second she got her magic back, she knows that if she does anything to me she loses him. It is the literal embodiment of a stalemate."

Mary-Margaret looked blindsided by Emma's defense, as logically correct as it was.

"Emma, I know you want to see the good in people but I've seen this with Regina a million times. She gets people invested in her to alienate them and then she turns on them."

"That's not what this is. I have everything under control."

Okay, so she wasn't so sure about that.

"I know, but promise me that you'll be at least a little skeptical? If not for your safety than for Henry's, if he's the only thing standing between her and you then he of all people needs to be protected."

No matter how Mary-Margaret came off or her methods for communicating it the intention was always to protect her and Emma knew that.

"You know I would never let anything hurt him."

On cue the doorknob rattled and David came through the door accompanied by Henry.

"Hey, just dropping him off. I'm meeting Leroy at Granny's."

Mary-Margaret headed over to the door to kiss her husband goodbye as was the habit every time they saw one another. Emma guessed they were making up for lost time but as Henry joined her at the island to observe their farewell they were both pretty much making the same face of fascinated distaste with which one would watch their parents kissing.

Henry managed to avert his eyes first, "How's Operation Cider going?"

"What? I thought all of our operations were snakes."

"That's only when we're trying to hide them from my mom."

"Right."

"I was going to name it Operation Apple but Archie and I agreed that it sounded like a juice."

Emma snapped out of her semi-hypnosis as David closed the door behind him.

"Wait, Archie knows about this?"

Henry nodded.

No wonder he'd been so for the idea.

Mary-Margaret returned to her stack of papers.

"Well?"

"It's hit a bit of a snag, mainly that your mom refuses to answer her phone but I do not give up that easily."

Henry smiled and Emma was reassured that all of her effort was worth something.

"Now come on kid, I'll work on Operation Cider while you go take care of your homework. You live with your teacher, there is no excuse."

Still beaming despite being forced into his homework Henry nodded again and headed upstairs removing his backpack as he went.

"So, is Operation Cider what's got you so fired up?"

"It sounds silly when you say it."

"It sounds silly because an eleven year-old came up with it."

"At least it's not something out of G.I Joe."

"So, what exactly is Operation Cider?"

Emma sighed, prepared to explain, "When I asked Henry what he thought about the whole magic lessons thing he said his favorite thing about the curse being broken was that he finally had something he'd always wanted."

Looking up from the counter she noticed she had Mary-Margaret in partial suspense.

"A family."

Mary-Margaret's eyes reflected sympathy; she had spent most of her life knowing exactly what that felt like.

"But even after everything Regina is his family too, she's his mom."

Putting her elbows on her papers Mary-Margaret gathered her daughter's hands into hers.

"Look, I know how important it is to have a family, to feel like you belong; but for Regina family isn't like that. She had more than one chance to be a part of a family and she destroyed it, she destroyed mine twice and I don't want to give her the opportunity to do that again. Not when I finally have you."

Emma inhaled and felt her mother squeeze her hand.

"I know, and I promise, I won't let that happen. I just have to find a way to get her to talk to me."

"You're the sheriff."

In unison Emma and Mary-Margaret's heads jerked up to look at the upper floor of the loft, Henry was standing there leaning against the railing.

"You could always arrest her."

* * *

Of all the terrible ideas she'd executed to get to people (and being a bail bonds person had shown her more than one terrible idea) arresting a powerful sorceress to talk about feelings was probably one of the worst. Something that Ruby was taking ample opportunity to remind her.

"Do you have to do this here? What if she goes all evil queen and takes out the counter?"

As if fearing that it would soon be taken from her Ruby was cleaning it for the fifth or sixth time. Waiting outside of Regina's house for her to have a reason to leave was a bust and there was only one surefire way to lure her anywhere. Regina hadn't given her much of a choice but she was still loath to exploit it. The bell on the Diner door jingled and Emma winced knowing who it was. She heard the clack of Regina's two quick steps inside and then stop, no doubt seeing that she had been duped.

"Hello Sheriff Swan, I don't know why I keep accepting my son's invitations, you'd think I would have learned by now that you have no reservations towards using him to achieve your own ends."

Okay, she deserved that, besides there was more verbal abuse coming and no point in trying to talk her way out of it. Turning away from the counter she unlatched her handcuffs from her belt, Regina's eyes widened with confusion.

"Mayor Mills, you're under arrest."

She couldn't make eye contact.

"Excuse me?"

"For trespassing and property damage."

Emma held the handcuffs at the level of Regina's waist hoping she would cooperate.

"This is about Gold's shop?"

No such luck on the cooperating thing and Regina was boring holes into her, she moved around behind her hoping that would stifle the guilt.

"I tried to warn you but funny story, you didn't pick up your phone."

If she was going to feel terrible about this then she was at least going to teach Regina a lesson. Grabbing her wrists she gathered them behind her back, Regina didn't fight, she was too stunned by the fact that Emma was actually daring to arrest her.

"So let me guess, you're going to lock me up until I agree to pay the damages that I _already agreed_ to pay."

"Sure, something like that."

Ruby looked like she was enjoying herself.

"This is blatant harassment."

"I'll be sure to report your complaint to the mayor."

Regina didn't think she was being funny.

"Come on, we're going to the station."

"So you can what? Coerce me without witnesses?"

Ruby was smiling with her arms folded on her undestroyed counter, "Oh, she wouldn't have to worry about that anyway."

Emma's brow furrowed, "Ruby."

She shrugged, feigning innocence.

Regina made less of a fuss than she'd expected in walking to the sheriff's office but a 'fuss' didn't really seem to become her. Instead she had resolved herself to silent, seething compliance- until Emma made to put her in the jail cell.

"You're kidding."

Emma just held the door open and gestured.

"You have no grounds to lock me up, we've already discussed the damages."

"Gold insisted."

No he hadn't.

"Come on, let's get this over with."

Regina did as asked, however reluctantly and Emma shut the door behind her.

"The handcuffs?"

"Turn around."

Emma undid one of the cuffs through the bar but instead of removing the other she slapped the empty one around a prison bar. Regina glared at her, "Are you trying to be funny because I'm not amused."

"Nope, I'm trying to have a conversation."

With Regina secured she sat down on the arm of the couch.

"Normally one doesn't arrest someone to have a conversation."

"Well, we're not exactly normal are we? You're the 'Evil Queen' and I'm the savior, that's what I'm working with."

That wasn't much to argue with but it didn't justify her methods.

"Fine, what was so pressing an issue that you had to _arrest_ me to discuss it?"

"Your magic."

Regina rolled her eyes, "Wonderful, so you've locked me up until I can explain something to you that you have no hope of ever understanding."

"I just need to understand the part about the glowing."

"The 'glowing' is completely normal, it's magic, things glow."

"You didn't act like it was normal and Belle-"

"Belle?"

The accusatory tone made Emma feel like she'd done something wrong, "Yeah, I asked about it."

Now Regina looked angry, maybe the locking her up had been a good idea.

"Fantastic, and what did Belle say?"

For all of her wanting to have this very conversation she was finding it a lot harder to speak than she had planned.

"Okay, listen, we have a son."

Regina raised an eyebrow at her phrasing.

"I mean, _we _don't have a son but Henry is your son and I'm his…other parent person who gave birth to him," she took a breath to try and regain herself, "So we're stuck with each other and maybe that's why you were," Emma made a few frantic gestures to try and pantomime glowing, "glowing."

"What?"

"I don't know. It was the only thing that came to mind that had anything to do with true love."

Annoyance melted into a smirk, "Is that what she told you? That it means true love? That silly girl knows nothing about magic except how to fall in love with people who will chose it over her."

"So what's your explanation?"

Regina shrugged, "I told you, it's magic. Things glow. Now, will you unlock these ridiculous handcuffs?"

"Not yet, what about all the busted furniture in your house?"

That was something she didn't seem to have a ready answer for.

"Tell me, or I go and get myself lunch and leave you here to think about it."

"Alright," She sighed, "I seemed to be having some trouble controlling my magic. I was angry and broke some furniture."

"Uh-huh, trouble controlling your magic which I'm sure has nothing to do with the completely typical full body glowing."

She'd been caught.

"Fine, you're right. We're connected through Henry, I can't deny that and because of it I couldn't take your heart."

There, that was all she'd wanted to know and yet she didn't believe it, Regina was just saying what she wanted to hear.

"That's it right? It's Henry. There's nothing else?"

"Like what?"

Despite the dangerous nature of her question Regina's expression hadn't changed.

"I don't know, anything else to take into consideration?"

The implication dawned on her.

"Of course there isn't."

Emma suddenly looked terrified.

"What? What is it?"

"You're lying."

"What?"

"You're lying. I can tell."

It seemed as if Regina was having difficulty inhaling, her breaths were evident in the movement of her chest.

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing."

"I can-"

"I know! You can tell when I lie! I get it!"

It took a lot to get Regina to raise her voice and the sudden shouting made Emma flinched. Regina turned away as much as she could while chained to the bars and tried to occupy her attention by straightening her shirt and brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Neither of them spoke, Regina exhaled and Emma worked up her will.

"Is there something else?"

Still facing away Regina tilted her head up to look at the ceiling of the cell and sighed, "I don't know."

When there was no response she turned back, "Do you need me to look at you so you can use your 'super power'?"

"No."

Standing up Emma unlocked the handcuff first and then the jail cell, she pulled the door open for Regina to leave.

"That's it?"

Emma nodded, "That's it."


End file.
